AP NEWS SC Officer faces murder charges

[gpatt0n]

 

	Published on Apr 8, 2015 A South Carolina police officer isfacing a murder charge in the shooting death of a black manduring a traffic stop. Meanwhile the family of the man whodied is shocked and outraged by the incident. (April 8 )
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[The Sound Guy]

If that's the one where he shoots the guy 8 times in the back from 40 ft away, he's going down.

 

No excuse for that. You may be pissed he is running, but it's not life threatening. (Unless he's a known terrorist, or on the 10 most wanted or or something like that)

 

You carry a gun, you have an additional responsibility to keep your emotions under control. He failed.

[gpatt0n]

If that's the one where he shoots the guy 8 times in the back from 40 ft away, he's going down.

 

No excuse for that. You may be pissed he is running, but it's not life threatening. (Unless he's a known terrorist, or on the 10 most wanted or or something like that)

 

You carry a gun, you have an additional responsibility to keep your emotions under control. He failed.

 

I think what concerns some folks is that the officer tampered with the evidence (moved the taser) and allegedly was suggesting to his superiors that the shooting was justified. There is every expectation that the officer would be put on leave during an investigation and if there was a way to interpret the plain facts - it is possible the officer would be returned to active duty.

 

I think that it is possible this apparent crime would have come to light but I don't consider it an absolute certainty. Whether there would be an indictment could be 50-50 or 10-90 or 90-10 - I just don't know because it would depend as much on the attitude, competence and ethics of the forensic investigators as anything.

 

You note I said indictment and not conviction as there may be a way to explain what happened that would convince a particular jury that no crime has been committed.

 

We do know that police in some states are seeking to enact laws restricting videotaping police actions although it is currently looking more like legislatures will consider making body-cams mandatory ... and there is resistance to that amongst those lobbyists representing police.

 

pubby

[The Sound Guy]

It concerns me too. Of course, none of us like to think that we are one moment of bad judgement away from ruining our lives, but in many ways most of us can be even without a gun and of course, people covering up their mistakes is a time honored tradition as well. Pull out in front of someone who dies trying to avoid hitting you and hitting a tree instead, do you admit fault if no witnesses were around and go to jail or just claim they left the road and hit the tree while you were watching?

 

In this case, I would hope that an autopsy would have shown that all the shots were in the back and raised questions, but agree that fox guarding henhouse investigations can be a concern. I personally think that their needs to be a special team in the GBI that investigates all Officer involved shootings.

 

However, I also have to look at the nature of the job that the police are trying to do.

 

Attacking a police officer is a violent crime of it's own. You have a cop that is attempting to make an arrest, when the person begins fighting back and (allegedly) attempts to grab the taser. Adrenalin levels skyrocket, fight or flee reflexes kick in and anger emotions fly. However, you expect police training to override those instincts, so it's obvious his career in armed law enforcement should be over.

 

In this case, I think it's more a voluntary manslaughter case than murder, since it can be argued that he was provoked and it looks like it was a heat of passion killing. Murder would be a high bar for the prosecution to prove if I was a juror. I sometimes wonder if the prosecutors pick the charge to not only make the protestors happy, but make it easier to get one of the jurors to not agree and drop all legal charges.

 

I just wish that the officers killed on duty got equal time in the news. It's a dangerous job.

 

 

[mei lan]

Dashcam footage echoes what the other video showed. I really don't see how a slew of bullets to the back could be construed as anything causing fear or harm to the officer. That is to say, by definition, if somebody is shot in the back, they are NOT facing the shooter.

 

Also shows the taser, and shows the cop handcuffing the dead guy and waiting 2 1/2 minutes before checking his pulse.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3032828/New-dashcam-video-shows-Walter-Scott-fleeing-car-records-sounds-struggle-pulled-over.html

[mei lan]

 

I just wish that the officers killed on duty got equal time in the news. It's a dangerous job.

 

 

 

Agreed.

[The Sound Guy]

Sounds like I might have been correct:

 

From a Defense Attn on CNN:

 

 

Criminal defense attorney Paul Callan said he believes Slager's defense will play up the reported scuffle in arguing that this is not a murder case.

"Defense attorneys will say this was a heat of passion shooting -- (that) this was something that he did suddenly after some kind of an altercation, a physical altercation with a suspect," Callan said. "And that would constitute manslaughter under law, as opposed to murder, and it makes a huge difference in sentencing."

In South Carolina, a murder conviction requires a measure of premeditation.

 

[stercus tauri]

If the cop is being charged with first degree murder and it is obvious that the charge would be hard to get a conviction, doesn't it look like maybe the district attorney is complicit in trying to get a not guilty verdict? Is the process rigged?

[CitizenCain]

 

 

I just wish that the officers killed on duty got equal time in the news. It's a dangerous job.

 

 

 

Actually it's not even in the top ten. You have a better chance of dying collecting garbage then being in law enforcement.

 

 

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/bureau-labor-statistics-released-top-10-dangerous-jobs-report-police-officer/

[The Sound Guy]

If the cop is being charged with first degree murder and it is obvious that the charge would be hard to get a conviction, doesn't it look like maybe the district attorney is complicit in trying to get a not guilty verdict? Is the process rigged?

 

It depend on if murder was picked to get him off, or because if he went with manslaughter, you'd see Black Lives Matter screaming that it should be murder and protesting and crap by people who don't understand the difference.

[The Sound Guy]

 

Actually it's not even in the top ten. You have a better chance of dying collecting garbage then being in law enforcement.

 

 

http://thefreethoughtproject.com/bureau-labor-statistics-released-top-10-dangerous-jobs-report-police-officer/

 

On a statistics basis if you look at all injuries. I don't even know if they keep stats on personal attacks on particular profession due to them trying to perform their job function. So Police are some different.

 

The vast majority of road worker deaths is caused by idiot drivers not paying attention, not deliberately trying to hit them.

Same with Truck Drivers, I'm sure accidents are the vast majority.

 

The garbage man did surprise me to make the list. I'm going to have to see the details on that on.

 

I do think the writer has a point about the arming of the police. It worries me when police are getting large numbers of war based vehicles "for the people's safety".

 

OK - looked it up. Looks like the Garbage man issue is accidents as well, should have realized that since they have to dodge the idiots on the road.

 

 

What makes it a dangerous job: Most fatal injuries occur by traffic or machine accidents. The nature of the job is mostly outdoors and on the streets, and accidents do happen. The other main contributor to fatalities is the garbage truck itself, as material collectors can get caught up in the hydraulic lifts and sustain serious injuries, or death.